Referring to FIG. 1, many organizations require their uniform-wearing members to position items on their uniforms according to organizational guidelines. For example, the army requires a soldier 10 wearing a uniform 12 to center his nameplate 14 on a flap 16 of a right pocket 18 between pocket sides 20 and 22, the top of a pocket button 24, and a pocket top 26. The army also requires the soldier 10 to center his unit award 28 over the pocket 18 such that the bottom of the award is 1/8 inch above the pocket top 26. Because he often removes items like the nameplate 14 and the unit award 28 before laundering his uniform 12, the soldier 10 positions and reattaches such items on a regular basis.
Because these guidelines often require precise positioning of such items, one typically uses a conventional measurement device such as a ruler to accurately locate the specified item positions on the uniform.
FIGS. 2 and 3 describe a technique for placing the award 28 above the pocket 18 of the uniform 12 (all of FIG. 1) using a conventional ruler 30. For clarity, the pocket flap 16 and the button 24 are omitted from FIGS. 2 and 3.
Referring to FIG. 2, to locate the specified position of the unit award 28 (FIG. 1) using the ruler 30, one first determines the horizontal midline 32 of the pocket 18 by aligning ruler marks with the pocket sides 20 and 22, calculating the distance between the sides 20 and 22, halving this distance, and marking the halfway point. In the illustrated example, one aligns the 4-inch and 7-inch marks with the sides 20 and 22, respectively, determines that the pocket 18 is 3 inches wide, halves this width to obtain 11/2 inches, and marks the midline 32, which is 11/2 inches from either side 20 or 22 and is perpendicular to the pocket top 26. To avoid ruining the uniform and to save time, one typically does not use a marking device such as a pencil to mark the midline 32. Instead, one often uses a relatively inaccurate technique such as eyeballing or temporarily marking with a finger.
Next, referring to FIG. 3, one rotates the ruler 30 ninety degrees, aligns the measuring edge of the ruler 30 with the pocket midline 32, aligns a measurement mark with the pocket top 26, measures the specified distance above the top 26, and marks a position 34 for the bottom edge of the award 28. In the illustrated example, one aligns the 8-inch mark with the pocket top 26, measures up 1/8 inch, and marks the position 34.
Still referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, one positions the award 28 (FIG. 1) by horizontally centering the award 28 about the midline 32 and aligning the award's bottom edge with the position 34 such that the bottom edge is parallel to the pocket top 26. Although one can use the ruler 30 to locate the horizontal midline of the award 28 and to insure that the award's bottom edge is parallel to the pocket top 26, he/she typically eyeballs these measurements.
Unfortunately, the ruler 30 and other like measurement devices are often cumbersome, inaccurate, and time consuming when used for two-dimensional positioning of an item on a back piece such as the uniform 12 (FIG. 1). For example, referring to the item-placement procedure discussed above in conjunction with FIGS. 2 and 3, eyeballing or using a finger to temporarily mark the midline 32 while rotating the ruler 30 into the second position (FIG. 3) is difficult even with good coordination and steady hands, and can be next to impossible for someone without these attributes. Furthermore, eyeballing and finger marking often cause noticeable alignment errors. Although one can go back and correct such errors, such re-positioning can add a significant amount of time to the positioning process, particularly when one must position and attach a large number of items.